SQL Server Design and Development

Trigon Blue Inc. has established its expertise in the following types of database design and development projects:

• B2C e-commerce
• B2B e-commerce
• OLTP
• Distributed systems
• Data warehousing

B2C e-Commerce
Business-to-Customer e-Commerce systems typically require databases that support a large number of concurrent hits and provide a high level of availability. To meet this challenge, we build horizontally partitioned, federated databases and COM+ components that are designed to work on clusters of servers. This architecture ensures that your site can handle the high number of hits received during peak hours and that it remains available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

B2B e-Commerce
B2B e-Commerce applications using SQL Server 7.0 were often based on DTS or custom stored procedures. SQL Server 2000 includes new XML features that let it create XML documents dynamically on the database server and send them to partners who may be using different platforms. SQL Server 2000 can also parse received XML documents and store obtained information in the database. We leverage this new functionality to provide powerful and cost-effective solutions for your B2B needs.

OLTP
An OnLine Transaction Processing database is a standard type of database system. We offer high performance databases that are flexible enough to meet all your OLTP needs while ensuring the integrity and security of your data.

We can also perform independent, third-party reviews of your projects with an eye to improving a solution's efficiency and easing its implementation. Experience has taught us that development teams often have problems in areas such as:

• Deadlocks
• Performance under the load of a large number of concurrent users
• Data integrity

Such problems originate in flawed designs, but often become obvious only after a system has been released into production - which is, of course, far too late. We can identify potential problems in these areas and propose solutions while the project is still under development. Our experience has taught us the design principles that avoid problems in these areas.

Deadlocks provide an interesting case in point. Deadlocks are not SQL Server errors. Rather, they are planned reactions by SQL Server to the improper behavior of competing client or middleware programs trying to access the same information in a database. Client applications must be designed to react properly to deadlocks and repeat requests in an orderly fashion.

Did you know that an improperly written client or middleware program can reduce the performance of your database system by as much as 30 times? 

One of the most common errors arising in client and middleware design is to use dynamically created ad-hock queries to access the database. To maximize performance, client and middleware programs should access the database using stored procedures and should employ neither client nor server cursors. Stored procedures, queries, and other database objects need to be designed in a way that prevents (or at least drastically reduces) the occurrence of deadlocks.

Distributed Systems
Distributed database systems present a whole new set of challenges, especially in maintaining data integrity during database replication.

Many organizations employ forces of mobile users on portable computers. Other organizations maintain unconnected working copies of databases in remote offices. In such cases, a well-designed, distributed database system allows users to work in isolation from the master database and then automatically replicate and synchronize databases while maintaining the integrity of the data.

Call to Action

• Are your your existing systems slowing down?
• Do your employees need to go on a coffee break when they start execution of a report?
• Do you need reporting system that is available 7 x 24?
• Do you need to internationalize your database solutions?
• Is your organization currently running Oracle, Access, DB2, SQL Server 6.x or 7.0?
• Do you have a problem with data quality?
• Are your databases considerable bigger then they used to be?
• Do you need to reduce management cost of your database system?

If you are thinking about designing, developing or upgrading your database system, give us a call. We can explain the advantages and present a coherent plan to make your upgrade painless and cost-effective.

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